


Father and Son

by NotEvenThat



Series: Canon Based Fics [8]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: (Magnus' Mother), Blood mentioned, Child Magnus Bane, Child Neglect, Drabble, Episode: s03e10 Erchomai, Erchomai, Father Asmodeus, Father-Son Relationship, Isolation, Magnus Bane-centric, Magnus' POV, Past Suicide Mentioned, Starvation, edom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 20:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14678817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenThat/pseuds/NotEvenThat
Summary: The first few years of Magnus' life he spent hungry and cold, absolutely alone in the world with no one to protect him. Then, his father came and Magnus loved him so easily for giving him everything he hadn't had before.





	Father and Son

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't help it. Asmodeus and Magnus' relationship is one of my favorite things that came out of that episode. So, take this tiny drabble in lieu of me not writing for months <3

For the first few years of Magnus’ life, he knew nothing but hunger and pain. The warm comfort of his mother had long since left him, along with anything else Magnus has grown to love and find comfort in. Everything warm and beautiful had been burnt out of the world, any reminisce of his childhood had vanished along with the river of blood he’d found running from his mother's wrists.

The world was cold now. Magnus felt hunger like he’d never had before, not a dull craving but a deep gnawing, agonizing need for food that he did not have. Some people felt bad for him. Some would see his small frame and recognize him as a child and feel pity without seeing his eyes and identifying him for the bad, unnameable thing that he was. Others would come close and every time, Magnus was hopeful that they would help as he was taught adults were supposed to, only to be reminded that he didn’t deserve their kindness when they gasped and fled in fear or screamed at him, calling him words he hadn’t heard before but understood regardless.

The concept of demons, changelings, monsters: It was one that was universal. Magnus didn’t need anyone to explain what those words meant, just that his mother had called him one before she had taken her life.

Magnus wondered often why he couldn’t have been born with normal eyes. He could hide the sparks that came from his hands. He could hide whatever it was that cursed him if it hadn’t been for his eyes giving him away so clearly as something _other_ and _evil._ He’d be able to trick people if it weren’t for his eyes. Maybe, he could trick someone into caring for him or trick people out of their kindness, if he’d been able to look normal. He couldn’t though and almost every person that went by him saw him for what he was. Magnus gave up on anyone helping him, after a while. Things like him didn’t deserve it.

He lived like that for years, long enough that when he curled up on the cold stone somewhere relatively safe, he could hardly recall the sound of his mother's voice to lull him into another unrestful night of sleep. The memories were muddled now, as everything else was. Sometimes, the world blurred around the edges, blending his memories and reality around him together like one. His thoughts came fleetingly, leaving him empty and unable to remember what he’d been thinking a moment before, leaving him wondering if he’d been thinking anything at all, leaving him wondering if any of this was real at all.

It’s easy to question reality when everything seems to pass you by. No one spoke to Magnus. No one looked at him with anything less than fear or pity. He found himself wondering if he was real at all, if anyone could even see him there withering or if he was just a ghost, invisible to the living world.

He was just starting to think that no one could see him at all and then one day, a man came who could. He was tall and the second Magnus’ hazy, sickly eyes found him, he looked _furious._ Magnus squirmed fearfully and then, he saw something in the man he had never seen before, not on anyone else. The man's eyes flash and suddenly, he was staring up at the same eyes he’d been cursed with, the same ones his mother had flinched away from, the same ones that made people scream when they saw him.

The man pulled Magnus into his arms like he was weightless, like he was nothing and then everything went dark and when Magnus woke up again, he was warm and comfortable for the first time in years.

The man cooed to him. He spoke so softly. He let Magnus walk around the crumbling, frayed shell of a building that they were in and he let him feel the warm, orange sand between his toes and look up at the piercing red sky without interrupting him. Then finally, when Magnus turned to look at him again, he smiled and for the first time ever, Magnus found eyes that were familiar and he felt _safe_ in their gaze.

His father fed him. He kept him warm and he used the _magic_ in his hands to heal the cuts and bruises that had long lacerated Magnus’ skin. He protected him when Magnus strayed too close to something that would hurt him, unknowingly. He taught him how to read the books covering their home and he told him that someday, he was going to be big, strong and most of all _powerful._

Magnus loved his father for giving him everything he’d never had before and for the first time, Magnus felt happiness and excitement. He thought that he’d never leave their home and go back to the cruel mundane world that had hurt him so much. He thought that when he got older, he wanted to be exactly like his father. He was going to be so big and strong and someday, he was going to rule their corner of Edom with him, just like he said.

Magnus couldn’t wait.


End file.
